The last thing I want to do is be the dumbest, whitest guy in the place and give some sort of corny pan-Asian bow that'll just show how little I know about the culture I'm interacting with. I want to engage these people on their terms, not on mine. Help me out? Be yourself, rather than pretend to b...

Thinking about the jhana states, I am aware that the levels of ones desire to experience a jhana state will effect ones chance at reaching the state; I understand this stated desire, as perhaps a desire for the bliss found in the jhana, desire for what is thought to be a 'sensual pleasure', right? ...

"Is it OK?" "Is it dark and bright mixed kamma?" "Is it the lesser of two evils?" "Is it in act compassion?" "Is it black and white?" "Is it wholly good or wholly bad?" "Is it the proper Buddhist thing to do?" These are some of the varied questions being asked/implied/assumed in this thread. They ar...

Intentional thoughts create kamma.
One may intend through thought, word, or deed.
So the thought "I will let this being die through restraining myself from taking action" would, I would think, create kamma.

... can anyone tell me what the differences are? Thank you. The differences are... some people teach what they have learned and some people think they know better. Why do they think they know better? Do they really know better? What are valid criteria for thinking one knows better? These are questi...

Is it ok to kill ticks and fleas if it's to save the life of an infested animal? I thought of something else. We might ask "Am I OK with killing <insert circumstance here>?" I once heard it said "If you are not OK with it, then don't do it." I think that is sound advice. I guess the flip side is......

Is it ok to kill ticks and fleas if it's to save the life of an infested animal? What do you mean "is it ok"? OK with whom or what? One might ask, "Is it in line with the Buddha's teachings to kill ticks and fleas if it's to save the life of an infested animal?" Or one might ask, "Is killing always...

That's all wonderful to hear, placebo. But I guess now I'm confused as to what your question is. So all in all I see birth as painful and a calamity, with it comes only suffering, pain and endless worries and finally you will lose everything (death). The Buddha taught the way to the cessation of bir...

some people ... come to the state of sadness thinking "rebirth of 'me' will end". :cry: For such people, understanding 'birth' and 'rebirth' is the least of their problems. The whole "no more birth" thing is a solution to a problem, namely the problem of stress. If one wants endless rounds of death...

I think 'they're' saying that they have discovered a swifter path to liberation. If time has facilitated this, then it begs the question, what keeps you in the path you're in and stops you joining theirs? As I've said before, I tend to be wary of people offering shortcuts. It's a common trick of sw...

If you're going to quote me....please do me the courtesy of making sire you're accurate? I did not quote you, nor did I claim I was quoting you. I said, "Here's my summary of this thread, how it looks to me". Then I said, "This kind of question is I think inherently rude". I stand by that. It is in...

Say that I want to get out of the country and live somewhere else and go to practice mostly unimpeded? Is there a place you can go to practice and work at the same time? Like a place to work for your living expenses and training that would be accepting of a foreigner? Why not ordain? How do you mea...

teknix wrote:Say that I want to get out of the country and live somewhere else and go to practice mostly unimpeded? Is there a place you can go to practice and work at the same time? Like a place to work for your living expenses and training that would be accepting of a foreigner?

If it can be categorically proven that the Theravada is [X} then the Mahayana Schools will have to concede that they are [Y]. I think your (and my) spiritual life would be simpler if there was only one teacher to follow and all other teachers closed up shop and went home. Somehow I don't think that...

It may or may not be worthwhile to point out there is no such teaching of "rebirth". There is rather the teaching of "again birth". As in "after death there is once again birth". And we practice for the end of "birth". It's maybe a subtle thing, or perhaps no thing at all, but people tend to get con...